Connect with us:

Competitions news

Leading businesses support University's £50k enterprise competition

Three leading businesses have been announced as sponsors of a £50k enterprise competition that aims to back the University of Manchester’s next big start-up.

Technical, professional and engineering group Jacobs, analytical science instrumentation and software manufacturer Waters Corporation and Manchester Science Partnerships, the UK's leading science and technology park operator, have all confirmed their support of The University of Manchester’s Venture Further 2017 initiative.

Delivered through Manchester Enterprise Centre, the University’s enterprise and entrepreneurship resource centre, Venture Further invites students and recent alumni to submit a business proposal to an expert judging panel of enterprise and business professionals, including senior business people from its sponsors.

The competition allows individuals or groups to receive expert feedback on their business ideas and gives them an opportunity to win a cash injection of up to £10,000 across four categories to get their idea off the ground.

Martin Henery, Competition Director for Venture Further, said: “Venture Further is a great opportunity for students across the university who are serious about starting a business, and we’re delighted to have such prestigious organisations joining forces with us this year.

“Each of our sponsors has invested heavily in innovation and we value their contribution very highly.”

Developed to encourage students and recent alumni from all disciplines across the University to become more enterprising, Venture Further is a two-round business start-up competition which offers support and prize money to entrepreneurs with business ideas that have the greatest potential to succeed.

There are four Venture Further prize categories to choose from:

Business: Businesses that have commercial potential via new products or services

Social: Businesses that improve the lives of people and communities

Digital: Businesses that apply digital technologies to generate new experiences and innovative business opportunities

Research: Businesses that focus on the application of university-based research to real-world problems and needs typically with some form of intellectual property at the heart of the business

Martin continued: “Our winners have gone on to launch and sustain many successful ventures from very simple ideas, using Venture Further as the perfect platform to put their plans to the test.

“We are here every step of the way to help students from any school refine their ideas and turn them into a viable business.

“By the same token, so many of our students are already entrepreneurs, and already have their own business, and Venture Further is here to give them a boost to take their enterprise to the next level.”

The deadline for applications is 29th March.

More details about the 2017 Venture Further sponsors will be revealed on the Manchester Enterprise Centre website in the New Year.